St. Elizabeth of Hungary Conference
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10030 - 3rd Street
Sidney, BC
In 1945 the Saanich Peninsula Conference was established in Sidney. In 2001 it was renamed as St. Elizabeth of Hungary Conference and aggregated one year later in 2002. There are currently 13 members of the Society but only eight are active, and most of these attend our monthly meeting on the last Wednesday of the month at 1:30pm in St. Elizabeth's Church, and participate in home visits and other Conference activities.
The volunteers at St. Elizabeth's are retired, mostly in their advancing golden years, and the need for younger members is acute. Since the profile is discreet, it is difficult to promote pastoral activity other than at the annual report to the parish.
2007 saw a major decline in the number of home visits requested by families in the Sidney Conference territory. Since home visits are at the heart of this pastoral ministry, it is difficult to maintain and develop interest in the work of the Conference.
St. Elizabeth's Conference does little or no canvassing for funds in the parish. We are allowed to provide SSVP envelopes within the offertory envelopes and receive an average of +$1,500 monthly. The Conference keeps a balance of $600 out of which it takes care of home visits, support to the 2 Human Exchange Homes in Sidney of $200 monthly, and our twinning Conferences in Latin America. St. Elizabeth's also has a generous benefactor in the parish who has made major contributions to the needs of the Particular Council. The proceeds from the Secret Bag collection are sent to the support of a Jesuit project in India.
In response to a drive from the Conference to do something more than offer a 'hand-out' to homeless and hard to house people, offering them also a 'leg-up', a proposal was made at Particular Council to assist the people living in the 7 Human Exchange homes in the Greater Victoria area. Since two are situated in Sidney, St. Elizabeth's Conference has visited these homes on a quarterly basis and has provided each house with some financial aid. Other conferences have been encouraged to assist Human Exchange homes in their territory. St. Elizabeth's has reached out to Salt Spring and Mayne Islands to assist families who receive local support from Food Banks.